What is the role of an American ambassador or foreign service person living in another country?

Les teaches that an American living in a foreign country is still a representative of the government in Washington. He references The Ugly American as an exposé of diplomatic people who were not real good representatives of our government and whose lifestyle was anything but exemplary. But the whole idea, he explains, is that ambassadors and foreign service people are visible representatives of our government, so people in the host country should be able to watch them and say, “That is a typical American.” Les then ties this to believers, saying Paul presents believers as having the same kind of role: they are left here as ambassadors of their homeland, which is in heaven, citizens of heaven because they are members of the Kingdom of Christ, as Colossians 1:12–13 describes being translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.